The aim of the present study was to investigate the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in matrix metalloproteinase (MMPs) with the risk of gastric cardia adenocarcinoma (GCA) and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Genotypes were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment-length polymorphism method in 592 patients and 624 healthy individuals. Significant differences in allele and genotype distributions of MMP-2 -1306C --> T SNP were observed between ESCC and controls (P = 0.02 and 0.01, respectively). Compared with the C/T + T/T genotypes, C/C genotype significantly increased the risk of ESCC (OR = 1.57, 95% CI = 1.10-2.23), especially in individuals in smoker group and in the group with positive family history. The stratification analysis showed there were risk changes of GCA for -735C/C genotype carrier in nonsmoker, for MMP-12 -82G allele and MMP-13 -77A/G genotype carrier in smoker. Our study indicated that these four functional polymorphisms might play roles in developing ESCC and GCA in high incidence region of North China.